1. Client Communication Strategies – Part 2
Recapturing Lost Clients

2. “Pet owner clients don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Segway—“The potential client has done their research and has the correct core information regarding your practice. But, we mentioned earlier that 88% of consumers read reviews to determine the quality of a local business [[slide 11]]”.
Source: Caring for patients one conversation at a time: Musings from the Interregional Clinician-Patient Communication Leadership Group

3. The Issue: Inactive Clients
Inactive clients are becoming increasingly common in companion animal practices.
Many practices are not aware of the number of inactive clients they have.
Do you know how many clients in your practice are inactive?
Segway—“The potential client has done their research and has the correct core information regarding your practice. But, we mentioned earlier that 88% of consumers read reviews to determine the quality of a local business [[slide 11]]”.

4. The number of inactive clients is on the rise.
The Issue: Inactive Clients
How do we define inactive clients? >18 months since their last visit.
The number of inactive clients is on the rise.
46%
53.4%
58.6%
and to
and
51%
of dog owners
of cat owners
of dog owners
of cat owners
“Is your practice active in social media? Are you posting to Facebook or Instagram? Are you responding to positive and negative reviews? How about comments that are questions or compliments?
in 2012
in 2015
Source: American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA)

5. Why are you losing clients?
Dr. Google: The Internet is increasingly becoming the default source of information on pet healthcare, replacing veterinary examinations.
Clients have a poor understanding of the value and importance of regular exams. 
Many clients rely on veterinarians only for routine vaccinations.
Segway – “So now, let’s go through the client experience. We’ll look at this as a prospective client. Imagine you’re bringing your new puppy or kitten to the veterinarian for the first time. You need to find a vet, schedule an appointment, the whole nine yards….”
Cat owners often avoid professional veterinary care because of the stress involved with transportation and physical examination of their pet.
Source: Bayer Veterinary Care Usage Study (VCUS)

6. PRACTICE DIFFERENTIATORS
What is the single most important factor for differentiating a healthy, growing veterinary practice?
Client relationships, including client communication.
A caring veterinarian-client- patient relationship—knowing that you care, or what AAHA calls “client centricity.”
Relationships are more critical than expertise to practice growth.
Source: American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA)

7. Making the right decision
Why do most reminder programs fall short?
“Potential clients are looking at your website, your Yelp/Google/Facebook listings. What are they seeing? Is what they’re seeing correct? Was it correct 1 year ago, or is it correct today? They’re reading the reviews to see the kinds of experiences others have had – what types of experiences are they reading? Are there warm responses to match?”

8. REMINDERS FALLING FLAT
Most traditional programs focus on appointment reminders and overdue procedure alerts for specific services, such as vaccinations, heartworm checks, and dentals.
Reminder messages are typically impersonal.
To some clients, such reminders may be considered a nuisance, insensitive, or commercialistic.
“Your social media listings should be a reflection of your brand.”
Source: American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA)

9. REMINDERS FALLING FLAT
Reminders are not focused on client status—most are sent to active clients who have visited the practice within the previous 12 months, NOT inactive clients who can help drive growth if they return to the practice.
“Where does your practice fall in this mix?”
If active clients fail to respond to a service-specific reminder, they may not receive a follow up reminder—increasing the risk that these clients will become inactive.
Source: American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA)

10. BRINGING BACK LAPSED CLIENTS
During , Partners for Healthy Pets (PHP) collaborated with Vetstreet to reduce the number of lapsed clients.
Vetstreet enrolled 1,612 practices in PHP’s inactive client re-engagement program.
Utilizing the PHP program materials, those practices generated an average of 128 patient visits from formerly inactive clients within 180 days of implementation.
Source: American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA)

11. BRINGING BACK LAPSED CLIENTS
What made the PHP Inactive Client Reminder Program different?
Communication was based on the client’s visitation history, not timetable for specific services. Practices could target pet owners who had been absent from the practice for 14 months or more.
The messaging itself. A service-specific reminder is not very persuasive. Instead, we focused on empathetic messages that emphasized 3 compelling points:
Recognition that pet owners want to provide great care for their pets, but because they are very busy it can be difficult to bring their pets in for regular exams.
Sincere concern from a practice for their pets’ health by reinforcing the importance of regular checkups.
A pet’s annual exam is as important as food and love.
Source: American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA)

12. RESPONSE: SENIOR PETS
Owners of older pets are less likely than owners of younger pets to take their dogs and cats to the veterinarian for regular healthcare exams.
Senior dogs and cats are at the greatest risk for developing chronic and degenerative diseases.
Early intervention with these high-risk patients can mitigate the onset or severity of age-associated disease conditions.
45% of patients in the rollout study were dogs and cats ≥ 7 years old.
Senior pets should be targeted for re-engagement with the practice.
Source: American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA)

13. Response: CAT OWNERS
Cat owners are less likely than dog owners to present their animals for professional veterinary care.
Many pet owners believe indoor cats do not need regular checkups.
Other prevalent attitudes:
Cats are independent.
Cats fend for themselves.
Cats are less likely to need attention to their welfare.
The 90-day response rate was slightly higher for cats (7.2%) than for dogs (6.2%).
Source: American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA)

14. 38% Response: LONG-TERM INACTIVE CLIENTS
Do not be deterred from sending reminder messages based on the length of time a client has been inactive.
of patients who re-engaged with practices had been absent for more than 2 years, including many patients who were absent for more than 3 years.
Source: American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA)

15. MAKE AN EFFECTIVE CHANGE
Retention Mistake: Forgetting About Lapsing/Lapsed Patients

16. Retention Marketing
Veterinary practices are hyperfocused on attracting new clients.
Practices easily spend 1-3% of gross income focusing on new client acquisition.
Source: Eric Garcia
New client acquisition marketing is meant to get clients in the door, but what are you doing to keep them coming back?

17. What is your practice’s bonding rate?
A bonding rate measures the number of customers who are returning to the practice after 18 months. If your bonding rate is under 30%, you should take immediate action.
BONDING RATE
23%
Visited the practice in the past 18 months.
77%
77%
Have not visited the practice in the past 18 months.
23%
“Every practice is focused on driving in new clients, but what about how current clients perceive your practice? Are 100% of those clients coming back? Why not? Sure, some of that is out of your control, but what if some are things happening that you don’t even see or know about? Maybe Lindsey J, the new technician, is really not resonating well with clients.”
In the average practice, just over 20% of the customer base hasn’t been seen in the last 18 months.

18. TARGET LAPSED CLIENTS
Target clients who have not visited the practice in 18+ months.
Reach out to clients
Track success, learn from clients, and clean up your practice database.
Telephone call between 6:30 p – 8 p
“Having a negative review posted is something 100% of practices are looking to avoid. What if a client was asked about their experience before they wrote the review?”
“Send clients an automated survey after visits and request feedback. The surveys should be general and focus on overall goal of their visit – not specific to each type of visit.”
campaign
Postcard/letter

19. PILOT STUDY: CLIENT RECAPTURE
Initial Results
With a 5% compliance rate at $126 per visit, we could generate $10,710 per clinic each year.
On average, an additional 85 animals per clinic will receive the healthcare services they need.
“If a client compliments you or a team member, ask them to share their experience via a review. Positive and negative comments or reactions from clients in the practice should be handled while the client is still in the practice. Your doctor should ask how they feel about the information/follow-up before leaving, the technician should double check that they understand. Are there questions? Do they have concerns? The receptionist should ask if they have any additional question on their appointment today while checking out.”
Developing for both Vetstreet and Rapport platforms and targeting August launch.
Source: Vetstreet Client Recapture Pilot

20. Questions?
Segway—“In order to respond to reviews, you need to have reviews. So the new client found your practice online, research, liked it, scheduled an appointment, came in to the practice… are you asking for the review? Thanking them? Measuring their satisfaction?”

21. practiceperformance@henryscheinvet.com 855-980-9099
E P get.hsrapport.com
3800 Horizon Blvd., Suite 201, Trevose, PA 19053